ProfNet Sources Available on Airport Security, Affirmative Action

Published 4:01 PM ET Sun, 11 Nov 2012
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EXPERT ALERTS

U.S. Presidential Elections: Private vs. Public Airport Security

Affirmative Action: Fisher v. The University of Texas

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U.S. Presidential Elections: Private vs. Public Airport Security Alan (Avi) Kirschenbaum Professor Technion Israel Institute of Technology "The upcoming presidential elections in the United States have put into stark contrast two opposing points of view of how airport security should be organized, maintained and operated. On one hand, President Obama supports the current status, in which the responsibility for the security of the airports in the U.S. is governed by a federal entity, and he is proposing to raise aviation taxes to fund the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). On the other hand, Republican candidate Mitt Romney calls for cutting the TSA workforce by at least 10 percent, as well as privatizing airport screening. But, as they are both couched in terms of ideology, we are faced with an empirical issue that has never been systematically tested; namely, which perspective can produce results that will match what the visionaries of the future airport are looking for. As ideological perspectives, they both suffer from a number of deficiencies that can be simply called 'selective facts.'" Professor Kirschenbaum is a world-renowned expert in the field of disaster management, as well as a popular lecturer, author, and advisor to governments, public institutions and security-related companies. He is the initiator and coordinator of The BEMOSA (Behaviour Modelling for Security in Airports) consortium, a Europe-wide research project aimed at improving security in airports. He is also a member of the Advisory Council for Aviation Research and Innovation in Europe (ACARE) Workgroup for Safety and Security. Profile: http://www.profnetconnect.com/alankirschenbaumWebsite: http://www.bemosa.euExpert Contact: avik@tx.technion.ac.il

Affirmative Action: Fisher v. The University of TexasKevin D. BrownRichard S. Melvin Professor of LawIndiana University Maurer School of LawRace, education and law expert Kevin D. Brown is available to comment on the Supreme Court case Fisher v. The University of Texas (oral arguments scheduled for Oct. 10). According to Brown, Justice Anthony Kennedy's vote will be the deciding factor in the case, with potentially devastating results for affirmative action: "If Justice Kennedy continues to follow his reasoning from the previous Grutter v. Bollinger decision, he might uphold the use of race as a decision factor at the University of Texas. The result of Kennedy's reasoning is that race can count in admissions decisions – it just can't count as much. Ironically, that could leave minority applicants much worse off than now. If admissions officials at selective higher-education programs are told that race cannot count for as much in the future as it does now, the only way that admissions official can operationalize this requirement is to substantially reduce the percentage of underrepresented minorities that they admit."Bio: http://bit.ly/RqPrAcWebsite: http://www.law.indiana.eduContact: Brianne O'Donnell, brianne.odonnell@gabbe.com

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LETTING SOURCES DECIDE WHICH QUOTES YOU USE: Tony Rogers of About Journalism explores the issue of whether journalists should let sources decide which of their quotes can be used in a news story: http://bit.ly/SlA2ps

HOW TO DECIDE WHICH CONFERENCES ARE WORTH YOUR WHILE: Michael Pranikoff, PR Newswire's global director of emerging media, shares some ideas for evaluating whether a conference is a good fit for your organization: http://bit.ly/Qdqed3

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